Located in the Fauntleroy neighborhood of West Seattle, Fauntleroy Schoolhouse is a nonprofit organization dedicated to making the historic Fauntleroy Community Schoolhouse a vibrant community center where children, families, and other community members can come to learn, play, meet, celebrate and support one another. Fauntleroy Schoolhouse’s RainWise installation manages rainwater runoff from over 3,000 square feet of flat roof area. The project

• creates community collaboration towards maintaining the rain garden,
• keeps 27,000 gallons out of the sewer system every year,
• maintains a habitat for pollinators and native plants,
• protects Puget Sound from combined sewer system overflows.

The installation was completed in April 2014, with a total of $6,342 covered by the RainWise rebate program.

Wenger Designs directed water from a 3,022 square feet portion of the roof, to flow into a 84 square foot rain garden. The pipe outfall from the rain garden flows onto the grass after the dispersion trench. This way, the danger of having rock immediately next to the sidewalk is removed at Fauntleroy Schoolhouse’s daycare site.

Fauntleroy Schoolhouse is particularly special, as it was the first “Big Roof” project done by RainWise! There were plans to include cisterns at the site, but the Barton area became ineligible for RainWise in 2016. This means that so many people got RainWise and the program met its stormwater management goals!

Fauntleroy Schoolhouse continues to be an inspiration for other community centers to become RainWise. Without the help of its staff and members, the project would not be complete.

Children and adults can care for the garden while knowing they are making a difference towards a stormwater solution. The rain garden also provides an educational component for people that pass by.

The lively community center held a tabling fair for RainWise, along with numerous outreach efforts in the neighborhood in print and online. This environmental stewardship proves that community driven projects are integral to the success of programs such as RainWise.

Project partners include Fauntleroy Schoolhouse leadership, King County staff, RainWise outreach staff and the creative design talents of the RainWise contractor, Wenger Designs.